[vamship]

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

The dealer quoted insurance price is Rs.45,801/- before considering my 35% NCB, I have got a quote from United India with all the covers like Zero Depreciation, engine protection cover, 24x7 RSA, Key and Lock cover, consumables, Invoice Price and Tyre Protector for Rs.29,899/- without considering my 35% NCB and Rs.25,441/- with consideration of the NCB.

I have both GTX+ diesel manual one month ago, after the increase of premium for TP.

Dealer quoted me below prices for KIA Safety Insurance.

Bazaz Allianz: 44700
New India : 36500

They provided the New India quote after me showing an external quote with same coverages at 30k. They couldn't decrease it any further, so i bought TATA AIG policy from my Agent for 31k.

[jasjotbains]

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

Any KIA Sonet diesel automatic owners having taken their insurance from the dealer itself, could you please tell me which insurance company they are going with and are the premiums a whole lot higher than taken elsewhere.

Did the dealer tell you of any significant advantages of taking the insurance from their side?

Thank You

GTX DAT owner here. Mine is Bajaj I believe. Paid 31k after 50% NCB

[Sail]

Originally Posted by Rahul Yadav

May I know the dealership as I supply Oil to most of Kia service centre in Delhi NCR?

Dear Rahul,

Thank you for your detailed information and sorry for the delayed reply.

First, I went to Allied Kia and asked them if I could obtain a fully synthetic oil as per the car manual, which I did with my Hyundai Grand i10 (I knew Hyundai had Shell HX8 in their portfolio of engine oils and my assumption for Kia was also the same). But they denied it and informed me that only company supplied oil to be used. They did not reveal any details or specification of the oil.

Then I spoke with Frontier Kia, who told me the same thing, but they also told me that they use Servo semi-synthetic oil. When I asked about the car manual's stating fully synthetic and why they are using semi-synthetic, a standard reply of "company instruction" was received.

I am doing some research and hunting, and found only Shell Helix Ultra ECT 0W-30 ACEA C2 is available in our market (Amazon, Flipkart, and local dealers), but it is an imported product and was manufactured in Nov 2019. No other oils are available in the same specification on the market for a common man like me.

Frankly speaking I have trust issues with car service centers, specially with engine oils. So, I always like to go ahead with best oil available as per car manual specification and fill it in-front of my eyes.

Brdgs,
Sail

[SJN]

Originally Posted by aeeshaan007

Is anyone using a Dashcam in their Sonet? I am planning to getting one fixed and would like some recommendations.

I have recently got Y2 model from Safe Cams installed in my Sonet. It comes with hard wiring kit and 32GB card. Its quality is decent enough and works well.

[aeeshaan007]

Originally Posted by SJN

I have recently got Y2 model from Safe Cams installed in my Sonet. It comes with hard wiring kit and 32GB card. Its quality is decent enough and works well.

Installed by Kia service? And any issues for warranty?

[Sukanta73]

Originally Posted by SJN

I have recently got Y2 model from Safe Cams installed in my Sonet. It comes with hard wiring kit and 32GB card. Its quality is decent enough and works well.

Could you please share the product link?

[Rahul Yadav]

Originally Posted by Sail

Dear Rahul,


Frankly speaking I have trust issues with car service centers, specially with engine oils. So, I always like to go ahead with best oil available as per car manual specification and fill it in-front of my eyes.

Brdgs,
Sail

You are right, one can't trust service centers as most of them are looking to make quick buck.

I am assuming you are talking about Allied Kia Gurgaon and Frontier Kia Gurgaon. I have only good things to say about Allied Kia(Both Gurgaon and Noida Branch). I have no experience with Frontier Kia. Only dealership I would avoid would be Sparsh Kia.

All Kia grades are Fully Synthetic Grades. Frontier Kia was wrong to quote Semi- Synthetic Oil due to negligence or they are not using Kia recommended oil.

You may contact Parts Manager and he can guide you properly with help of service manual. You may contact Mr. Mahesh(Allied Kia, Gurgoan) for any guidance. Just make sure they take oil from Correct Barrel i.e Servo Superior EO 0W30 ACEA C2.

My advice- Either buy 0W20 SN Plus from reputable shop or trust following service center- Allied Kia(Gurgaon/Noida), Lohia Kia(Delhi/Noida), Jayanti Kia(Delhi, Faridabad).

Side Note: I am baffled by Kia recommending different standards for same Engine. Example- API SN Plus for Manual powertrain and ACEA C2 for Automatic powertrain of same engine.

[Sail]

Originally Posted by Rahul Yadav

You are right, one can't trust service centers as most of them are looking to make quick buck.
I am assuming you are talking about Allied Kia Gurgaon and Frontier Kia Gurgaon.

Dear Rahul,

Thank you for your kind words and guidance.

I will be heading for Allied Kia as it is close to my residence.
Sure, will have a chat with Mr. Mahesh to get all doubts cleared.

Recently I had a very bad experience with my Grand i10, as a result I am not keeping any loopholes open for service centers to play around.

Brdgs
Sail

[SJN]

Originally Posted by Sukanta73

Could you please share the product link?

You can refer their website https://www.safecams.in/ I got it from a local dealer. Note that the dashcam comes with a parking guard mode but I have not been able to turn it off through the app. So it stays on when I turn off the car and it may drain the battery if your car is not used daily.

There is a workaround that if I stop all recording through the app before switching off the car, then the dashcam powers off. Else, you can hard wire it in such a way that it turns on only when the car is started (but then there is no parking mode!).

However, the parking mode proved its worth during first servicing. I checked the video after servicing just to see what all is covered. To my surprise, the car underbody was never checked. They only checked the fluid levels in 2 mins and then washed it.

[vamship]

Originally Posted by vamship

Hi All,

I have noticed something that's little weird with my Diesel Manual GTX+ brake pedal.

Attachment 2337081

There is this little metal thing below the pedal, can someone with the same model confirm if they have this?

I was hoping to see if anyone can check if it's setup in the same way for their vehicle. I am worried, if the dealer had messed with it, as it looks like exposed welding.

[jasjotbains]

I recently purchased a OnePlus Nord CE2 and I am facing weird issues while calling someone on Bluetooth while I'm driving my Sonet.

The call automatically gets disconnected and then reconnects again automatically. This cycle repeats 3-4 times but i believe the call is not disconnected at the other end.

Anyone has been facing this issue? It used to work perfectly fine with my Redmi phones. If it's of any help, the phone is on fast charging when I make the calls.

Any sort of advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

[saurabhricha]

Originally Posted by jasjotbains

I recently purchased a OnePlus Nord CE2 and I am facing weird issues while calling someone on Bluetooth while I'm driving my Sonet.

The call automatically gets disconnected and then reconnects again automatically. This cycle repeats 3-4 times but i believe the call is not disconnected at the other end.

Anyone has been facing this issue? It used to work perfectly fine with my Redmi phones. If it's of any help, the phone is on fast charging when I make the calls.

Any sort of advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

I am using a samsung phone which is paired with my Sonet and automatically connects to the car every time. I have not faced any such issues till now.

Have you tried unpairing the phone and the re-pairing it with the music system of your car? If not, then please do try doing that once and also make sure that when you're trying to connect your phone to your car's system, no other phone's Bluetooth is turned on (if there is a second person in your car or in case you use 2 phones).

Secondly, I'm assuming that your current phone's OS is updated to the latest/most recent release by OnePlus. If not, then please do check for any patch updates that the company might've released and make sure that your phone's OS is up to date.

If the above does not help, I believe the next best thing for you would be to get the car checked at your dealership's workshop in case there is a software update available for your car's OS (since you haven't mentioned what year is the make of your Sonet).

Even if that does not help, you can try using a different phone (borrowed from a family member/friend for just testing) to try and repeat the exercise of calling while the phone's Bluetooth is connected as well as kept on fast charge. In fact, I'd suggest you do this before visiting the Kia workshop so that you can tell them that you have already tried all possibilities to fix the problem on your own. If the problem still persists with a different phone then there maybe a software issue with the your car's OS. If not, then I'm guessing it has something to do with your OnePlus phone's OS. Alternatively, you can also try to connect your phone to a different car's Bluetooth (separate brand and make possibly, if that option is available to you) and try doing the same, check and see whether the issue still persists. If yes, then in all probability it is something to do with the phone's Bluetooth version or the phone's OS itself (since OnePlus uses a heavily modified Android with their own Oxygen OS).

Hope this helps. Cheers.

[_chikku]

Originally Posted by vamship

I was hoping to see if anyone can check if it's setup in the same way for their vehicle. I am worried, if the dealer had messed with it, as it looks like exposed welding.

It is similar in HTX model too. See the pic taken from top and side.

[itsmeparvathy9]

To the Sonet Diesel AT owners out there, I am planning on purchasing the Kia Sonet Diesel AT with it being the only true automatic diesel SUV under my budget of 15 lakhs and the feeling that it will be truly worth it, I am only in favour of automatics (no AMT), I even considered the Sonet DCT too.

My family is a small one with just 4 members and all being on the shorter side under 165cm. We contemplated and looked at each and every SUV under 20 lakhs with an automatic transmission, from the Magnite/Kiger all the way to the Thar/Scorpio-N. Having test driven many of these as well. But the Sonet turned out to be the one that appealed to us all. We are not the best at cars, but it seemed good VFM with Diesel AT. What are your thoughts on the Sonet Diesel AT? How is it to drive? How is the maintenance cost? I am all ears.

[ashvek3141]

Sonet HTX D AT, 1000 KMS Ownership Experience and 1st Service Update



The 1 month / 1000 kms + ownership has been pretty good and overall I am satisfied with the car. I shall jot down a few pointers with regards to my ownership so far.

Please note that I shall draw some comparisons with my secondary ride, 1st gen Creta P MT and also my earlier ride, 2nd gen Swift ZDi. I know it might sound like comparing apples to oranges here, but these are just for reference purposes.

• Engine
  - The 1.5L CRDi is a gem of a motor. Absolutely silent at idle, one would be hard pressed to tell if this is a diesel motor. Some of my friends/colleagues were taken aback when I mentioned that mine is a Diesel Sonet. But the same folks criticized the engine noise inside when on the move I too completely agree with this, the car is dead silent on idle; however, as the revs start to climb it gets pretty audible inside the cabin.
  
  - The noise is kinda acceptable up to 2.3 - 2.5k rpm, but beyond that is gets very much intrusive. Don't get me wrong, I have owned diesel cars in the past and I know that diesel, in general, is a noisy engine, but Hyundai / Kia cars are known for the stupendous NVH which somehow I found to be lagging in the Sonet.
  
  - Apart from the noise part, this motor is just fab. The pull from the ~1800 rpm is clean and at times also gives you a push-in-the-seat kinda feel. Again, it all depends on how the TC gearbox is shifting to the throttle inputs(I'll come to that later).
  
  - In general, there is no lag to speak of and the gearbox does help to mask this effect. The pull in any gear especially between 2nd to even 5th is clean and there is no hint of any resistance as such. Only in the 6th gear, there is a bit of time taken to pull if the speeds are dropped say below 60-65 kmph.

• Driving Modes
  - NORMAL : This is a default mode when the car is started no matter in which mode the car was turned off. This is a very balanced mode and I use it almost 90% of the time. I find this to satisfy almost all your driving needs and patterns. I don't have a thorough idea as to how much BHP / Torque is generated by the engine in this mode, but I read somewhere that this kinda limits the Power to ~100 bhp. I don't have any idea how that's done.
  
  - ECO: As the name suggests, this one's for the mileage-conscious folks and I'm not much keen on using this. In the entire ownership of 1 month, I have used it once to only check how it performs. The gearbox shifts pretty quickly in this mode and the speed build-up is linear. apart from this, there is nothing much to speak of here.
  
  - SPORT: Ahh! Now we're talking!! The BEST mode of all. Needless to say, as the name suggests, pure enthu-orientated mode there. The moment you switch to SPORT mode, especially while keeping the A pedal pressed, there is a slight push to the car and the rpm pumps up by a few notches. The engine growls a bit more and the A pedal gets extremely sensitive. there is absolutely zero lag to the throttle inputs in this mode. Pedal to throttle matching is perfect in here and the car just keeps pulling as your continue throttling it. Some say that even the steering weighs up a bit; but personally, I didn't quite feel that. Maybe I shall pay some more attention next time.
  
  Having said all of this, this mode is purely for the open roads. Period. You really need those open highways for this. Try this mode in the city with some traffic and it gets jerky. The car keeps shifting gears to keep the engine on the boil and that after some point gets a bit annoying. Hence, keep the sport mode for those highway runs and see yourself grinning!

• Gearbox
  - Coming to the next big thing of this car, the flawless TC unit. As I mentioned earlier, the TC unit does a good job of masking the low-end turbo lag and makes the start-ups pretty smooth in the majority of the traffic conditions.
  
  - This is our very first automatic car and hence probably it comes with a small learning curve. By this, I don't intend to discourage any prospective AT buyers, but there is some time needed to get used to the shifting manners of the TC unit, especially if one has been driving a manual for all these years.
  
  - I find the gearbox to be holding the 2nd and sometimes even the 3rd gear a bit too long for my liking. I had initially thought that this is tuned intentionally to minimize the DPF clogging, but BHPian shrk_18 cleared this doubt saying that this is an inherent nature of a TC unit. I don't quite like this behavior coz the revs keep building up even up to 3k rpm at times and that only increases the engine noise which I mentioned earlier.
  
  - I hardly find myself needing to use the paddle shifters coz the gearbox is never in the wrong gear, I really mean this. There will be just about 1-2% cases where I thought that the car was in a higher gear; but apart from that, this one just nails it, every time.
  
  - The only gripe I have is that the instrument cluster doesn't show the current 'drive' gear. It just shows as 'D' unlike in the DCT wherein it shows the current gear selection. I know it doesn't impact much, but it just feels good to have that information. However, in Manual mode, it does show the current gear.
  
  - Also, the majority of the time I find it a bit hard to shift the car out of 'P'. So much so that the car even jerks a bit sometimes. I inquired about this with the service guys and they mentioned that this is a normal TC behavior. I however follow the steps mentioned in the manual before parking i.e. Brakes --> Shift to 'P' --> Hand brake --> Ignition off.
  
  

• Ride and Handling
  - Coming from the humble 1st gen Creta (currently on 225/55/R17 wheels), I find the Sonet's suspension a bit stiff to my liking; my Dad too has a similar complaint. It's not unbearable to say, but a slightly softer tune would have been great IMHO.
  
  - Take those speed breakers or bumps with a slightly higher speed than and you will feel that the car just drops with a 'thud' noise. I even got this checked with service folks / WA and telegram Sonet groups and they all mentioned that this is how the suspension is.
  
  - One can feel the road underneath, especially when driving on slightly irregular/unfinished roads. This drawback is that it brings in unnecessary squeaks inside the cabin.
  
  - Handling, in general, is acceptable and nothing remarkable to speak of. The car holds the line and inspires confidence when driven under say 100 - 110 kmph. Beyond that, not so much.
  
  - I also had this issue with the steering alignment right from day 1, which still isn't completely fixed to my satisfaction.

• Air conditioning
  - The AC in this car is a chiller! Primarily this is due to the vents being placed close to the occupants is what I feel. But overall too, I find that Ac does a good job of cooling the cabin.
  
  - A very annoying point that I would like to mention is that during idling the compressor cut-off is very much appreciable. I had noticed this in the DCT but thought that it is expected since that is a 3-cylinder 1 L unit, but a similar behavior with the 4-cylinder 1.5 L diesel unit kind of got my heart scratching. Heck, even my humble Swift with a 1.3L engine was calmer during the compressor switching.
  
  - I usually maintain the AC on AUTO between 24-25 C.
  
  

• Music System
  - The 8" Arkamys tuned music system has an acceptable sound quality and will satisfy the masses. I am not an audiophile and hence completely satisfied with the sound output. I usually stream music from gaana or amazon music maintaining the volume levels at 10 - 14.
  
  
  
  - The only annoyance is the erratic behavior of the system when playing music through BT. I have noticed that the music stops playing and at times even the phone gets disconnected in the middle of playback. This looks mostly like a software glitch and can be fixed with an update. I am using iPhone 7 / 12 Pro.
  
  - Wireless Carplay is a boon and is working flawlessly so far; However, it drains the phone's battery at a much faster rate.
  
  - This system is devoid of SAT-NAV and hence one has to rely on Google Maps.

• Fuel Efficiency
  - The average displayed on the MID is somewhere between 18 - 19 kmpl. Max I have seen is 19.2 kmpl. Now, this is the cumulative 'fuel economy' that is displayed and not pertaining to a specific trip.
  
  
  
  - For a trip of approx. 50 kms with 70% on the highway, the max mileage displayed is 28 kmpl. I find these figures a bit optimistic and too good to be true for an engine of this size coupled with a TC AT.
  
  - Below is the tank-to-tank mileage derived from the fuelio app. For sure, there is a 1.5 - 2 kmpl difference between the actual and the MID displayed mileage figures. I presume the system will sort of calibrating after running for approx. 5k - 6k kms and may indicate the near-actual mileage in the future.
  
  

• Other points
  - I find the overall quality of the Sonet a notch below when compared to my Creta. Let me mention that this is not only for the Kia Sonet; I have extensively checked the 2nd gen Creta and I find it similar in that too. Right from the plastics on the dash to those on the door, the window switches; the seat belt thickness, everything feels a grade lower. The Koreans have surely gone in for profits since the launch of the 1st gen Creta.
  
  - 7 years and nearly 70k KMS on the odo, there is not a SINGLE rattle or a squeaks in my Creta *touchwood*. However, in the Sonet, I can already hear mild squeaks coming in from the AVN unit, the doors when playing music with slightly higher bass, centre console randomly, etc.
  
  - The overall quality of the plastics used say for the height adjust/recline lever, power windows switches, etc. feels a bit lower than my Creta. The ones in the 1st gen Creta feel so polished, even today.
  
  Loose height adjuster lever
  
  
  - The HTX variant comes with the lighter interiors and with the introduction of 4 airbags, there is no way to put seat covers which brings another problem to the table. The white seats are P-A-I-N to maintain. I don't know how am I going to manage this. Surely they look good but are equally painful to maintain.
  
  
  
  
  
  - Brakes of this car are pretty good and do a good job of bringing the car to stop in time.
  
  - I find the front seats to be a size smaller for my liking. I am 6 feet tall with an average build and I find the side bolsters a bit intrusive. A slightly wider seat would have helped I feel. I am not quite able to find a 'comfortable' driving position yet.
  
  - I don't know the logical working of the TPMS system, but I need to 'set' a pressure of 37 psi at the fuel bunk to get a display of approx. 33-34 psi on the TPMS. Sometimes it even goes to 35 psi. These are all cold tire pressure readings. I am still experimenting on this and will confirm once I get to know the exact pressure that needs to be maintained to display 33 psi on the MID. For now, I am sticking to only one air-filling station.
  
  - Not having a rear wash wipe is annoying as hell!! I think enough has been said on this. Kia, please wake up and get the basics right, please.

• 1st Service
  
  - Completed the 950 kms on the 20th of this month and the following day got the 1st service done at ADC Kia, Goa.
  
  - This was just a general check-up and not a service per se. Had 2 issues to fix as below,
  1. Steering alignment: As mentioned earlier the alignment was a bit off right from Day 1; got this checked during the 1st service. The SA got the calibration done, didn't help. Later did the alignment, took the trial, and told me it was done. I didn't have time for another trial as I was already running late for the day and had to rush to office. While driving back, though it had improved it was still kinda off. I didn't have any more patience or time to get back and do this again.
  
  Called the CRM the following day and narrated this to him. He requested to get the car again for a check. Went the following day, I was assigned another SA. He took the TD and mentioned that the 'steering calibration' was a bit off. Came back, re-done the calibration. Again, a minor improvement but not 100%. I gave up! I have said this before and I shall say it again, somehow the Koreans cannot get their steering systems right!
  
  Alignment being carried out. Excuse the pic quality as I clicked it from the lounge.
  
  
  
  2. Horn shrill: This issue is primarily seen when the horn is pressed for more than 1 sec. Though it is an intermittent issue, it still is annoying. However, the technicians there couldn't reproduce this issue and hence no solution for now. They requested to record a video next time this issue occurs.
  
  3. Poor fitting of plastic cover near the windscreen: This issue too was there right from Day 1. When I brought this to the notice of the SA, he mentioned that there is no warranty on plastic/rubber parts!! I wonder if they weigh in the cost of this small piece of plastic and the experience that the customer takes back home?
  
  
  
  - They took a good 4 hours for this general check-up and to check on the 2 niggles that I mentioned, albeit without a proper fix.
  
  - The annoying part comes at the end when they come chasing you for the ratings!! I don't know how the heck this thing works, but for sure this is not so happy experience for the customers. Give then anything below 9/10 or 4/5 and you'll be killed with questions!
  
  - Since I didn't have much time and had to rush, I just gave them a 5* and closed the matter.
  
  - Overall, an average 1st service experience in my books.

ADC Kia, Goa workshop


So, that was a small update on the 1k kms & 1st Service ownership experience. As I write this, the odo stands at 1600 kms.